Donald Trump cancels ‘secret’ peace talks with Ghani, Taliban

Taking to Twitter, Trump said, “I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations.

SNS Web | New Delhi | September 8, 2019 10:20 am

US President Donald Trump (Photo: IANS)

US President said on Saturday that the Taliban leaders had to travel to the US for secret peace talks this weekend but that the meeting has been cancelled and he’s called off peace talks with the militant’s group entirely.

The cancellation comes after a Taliban suicide attack on Thursday in Kabul that killed at least 12 people, including an American soldier, Efe news reported.

Taking to Twitter, Trump said, “I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations.

….only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?

“Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday,” Trump further posted while referring to the presidential country retreat in Maryland, just outside of Washington.

Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to..

“If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?”, he said.

The unexpected announcement comes after Washington and the Taliban on September 2 reached a draft agreement in principle after more than a year of negotiations, which provides for the withdrawal of 5,000 US troops 135 days after signing.

The Taliban has insisted that the troop withdrawal is a fundamental issue in reaching an agreement during the nine rounds of talks held in Doha so far.

The Taliban has refused to meet the Afghan government until a pact with Washington was formalized.

The war in Afghanistan is the longest-running conflict in which the US has been immersed.

Last month, the US and Taliban resumed peace talks in Doha, Qatar which aimed at chalking out a deal on the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in exchange for a Taliban commitment on security and negotiations with the government in Kabul.

However, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad who leads the US in the talks with the Taliban in Doha said that no one should be “intimidated or fooled by propaganda” regarding the US’s support to the Afghan security forces.